Ms Susan McKnight

National Teaching Fellow 2008 Institute at the time of award: Nottingham Trent University At the time of receiving her National Teaching Fellowship award, Sue McKnight was Professor of Knowledge and Learning Management and Director of Libraries and Knowledge Resources at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) where she was responsible for library services across NTU's three campuses and for leading the university's strategic developments in e-learning and knowledge management. Sue has been responsible for researching customer values and irritations of library and e-learning services in both Australia and in the UK. This research has led to the introduction of new services to support students and staff at Nottingham Trent University, with student satisfaction increasingly significantly as a result of the interventions put in place following customer feedback. The focus on understanding customer needs, and acting upon these needs, is a hallmark of Sue's leadership. She chairs the JISC eBooks Working Party and is Vice-Chair of the JISC National eBooks Observatory Project. She is also a member of the international Pearson Education Strategic Advisory Board. In all these positions, Sue promotes access to information and curriculum resources to enhance student learning. Sue has a strong interest in promoting accessibility for disadvantaged students, whether the disadvantage is due to geography (being at a distance from the campus) or disability. Sally Olohan, Head of NTUs Student Support Services said "Sues decision to embed accessibility considerations at the very outset of the new VLE project was a model of best practice. Under her leadership, the process enabled our current disabled students, and the staff working with them, to highlight key usability issues with the supplier, which would otherwise have only surfaced at the point of implementation. Her decision to involve an expert consultancy team in the audit process to undertake further investigation illustrates the strong commitment to ensuring high quality and getting it right for the customer that characterises Sue's work." Sue chairs the Academic and Research Libraries Section of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). She is a Fellow of both Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and the Australian Institute of Management. Born in Australia and educated at the Queensland Institute of Technology, The University of Queensland and Nottingham Trent University, Sue also holds professional library qualifications from the Australian Library and Information Association. Before arriving in the UK, she was named Manager of the Year by the Australian Library & Information Association in 1999. Sue now runs her own consultancy firm in Winsor, Australia.